Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

and Chunyu, 2013). The main motivations for illegal migration are identified
to be economic and sociocultural (Liang et al., 2008). While largely driven by
economic ambition, smuggled migrants are seldom poor and desperate. Rather,
migration is seen as a way of earning social prestige (Chin, 2003; Chu, 2011;
Silverstone, 2011). Sheng and Bax (2012) examined the trajectory of irregular
emigration and argued that a process of “defolding” or deceleration of the
“cumulative causation model” of migration has taken place in recent years, in
part contributed by more restrictive migratory controls.
Many researchers highlight the unique role of personal connections, or
guanxi, in the continual success of human smuggling trade (Silverstone, 2011;
Zhang, 2013). Zhang, Chin and Miller (2007) claim that “human smuggling is
essentially a business built on a myriad of guanxi”. In the same vein, Lu, Liang
and Chunyu (2013) found that when barriers to migration are high, especially as
measures against illegal migration becomes more stringent over time, resources
such as migrant social, political and human capital play a crucial role in the
emigration process. In this regard, many sociologists explore the relationship
between smugglers (snakeheads or she tou in Chinese) and smuggled migrants
(“snakes”), and how snakeheads are perceived in the unique context of China.
Snakeheads are mostly ordinary people, easily accessible by prospective
migrants through the conduit of family or friends (Silverstone, 2011; Zhang
and Chin, 2015). Family and friends thus form a large client base, especially for
female smugglers (Zhang, Chin and Miller, 2007).
Anti-smuggling efforts and rhetoric have long operated under the
assumption that Chinese human smugglers are connected with traditional
crime organizations with elaborate international networks. To uncover these
assumptions, academics have attempted to build theories around the operational
and organizational features of snakeheads (Silverstone, 2011; Zhang and Chin,
2002 and 2015). Herein, Zhang and Chin (2002) highlight the difference between
organized crime and the enterprise model: the latter is characterized by “flexible
and adaptive network of enterprising individuals”, in contrast to the hierarchical,
centralized and bureaucratic nature of organized crime. Empirical research
suggests that snakeheads tend to take the form of an enterprise model, and are
unlikely to present as large organized crime networks (Silverstone, 2011; Zhang
and Chin, 2015). Snakeheads generally consist of peer-group entrepreneurs that
operate on one-on-one (or dyadic) transactions with limited hierarchy. Further,
most snakeheads took efforts not to entangle themselves with gangs or other
crime groups in the Chinese community.
In contrast to the common belief that brokers are unscrupulous criminals,
research found that snakeheads are highly regarded in their communities (Chin,
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10. North-East Asia